Kirby Star Allies
|platforms = Nintendo Switch |image = |pal_boxart = |jap_boxart = }} Kirby Star Allies (sometimes written Kirby: Star Allies), known in Japan as 星のカービィ スターアライズ (Hoshi no Kabi: Sutā Araizu, meaning Kirby of the Stars: Star Allies), is a game in the Kirby series, set to be released on March 16, 2018 worldwide, and a demo on March 1 (EU)Nintendo UK Twitter and March 4 (US)Go Nintendo. It is the first game in the series for the Nintendo Switch. Story In a part of space far away from Planet Popstar, countless Dark Hearts scatter as a result of a mysterious ritual. Many of them fall down to Dream Land, where they turn anyone they touch evil. When one dissolves into Kirby, however, it grants him the ability to throw hearts that befriend anyone they touch. He notices some Waddle Dees carrying a large amount of food to King Dedede's Castle, which has become surrounded by dark clouds. Kirby sets off to investigate this mysterious phenomenon.Translated Famitsu article Gameplay Kirby Star Allies is a traditional platformer Kirby game, in which the player controls Kirby, whose objective is to get to the end of each stage through the use of Copy Abilities. Kirby retains his traditional moves; the Inhale, Star Spit, Slide attack, Air Gun, and floating. The game is a 2.5D platformer, meaning that the characters move on a two-dimensional plane in a 3D environment. Two game mechanics return from previous installments of the Kirby series; those of Mix abilities (from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Kirby: Squeak Squad, though in this game they are called Friend Abilities) and Helpers (from Kirby Super Star and its remake, though they are here referred to as "friends"). In a manner similar to the mechanic shown in the trailer for the unreleased Kirby GCN, there can be four player-controlled or CPU-controlled friends at one time. Kirby can throw a Friend HeartNintendo of America Twitter at certain types of enemies in order to turn it into a friend by using the X button; friends can also throw Friend Hearts in order to change their ability. Even if Kirby has no friends, another player can join, taking Kirby's current ability similarly to the helper mechanic in previous games; Kirby can also turn a friend into an ability item by performing "Unfriend," which replaces the Drop Ability function if Kirby has none; this can also be achieved by throwing a Friend Heart at an enemy while already having three friends, and opting to cancel the action instead of replacing one of them. Friends can assist Kirby in multiple ways, allowing for combo moves such as creating a circular formation that allows them to roll ahead in certain areas. The player can also mix Friend Abilities by holing up on the analog stick and having a partner using an attack on the player's character. Additionally, there are two sub-games separate from the main game. They are small, competitive sub-games that also support up to four players at once. Star Slam Heroes is a timing-based game strongly reminiscent of Megaton Punch, where Kirbys power up a flaming baseball bat and attempt to smack a meteor the farthest distance. Chop Champs sees players using Joy-Con motion commands to try to chop as much wood as possible with their Kirby within a time limit, while avoiding bugs and Gordos. Game Modes *Story Mode *Chop Champs *Star Slam Heroes Characters Playable characters *Kirby Friends *Beetley *Bio Spark *Birdon *Blade Knight *Bonkers *Broom Hatter *Bugzzy *Burning Leo *Chef Kawasaki *Chilly *Como *Driblee *Gim *Jammerjab *Knuckle Joe *NESP *Parasol Waddle Dee *Plugg *Poppy Bros. Jr. *Rocky *Sir Kibble *Vividria *Waddle Doo *Wester Allies *ChuChu (cameo) *Nago (cameo) *Pitch (cameo) *Popon Enemies New Enemies *Anger Masker *Driblee *Jammerjab *Unnamed enemy with a fire/ice shield *Unnamed red enemy inside a water bubble *Unnamed enemy that gives the Festival ability Returning Enemies *Beetley *Bio Spark *Birdon *Blade Knight *Blipper *Bouncy *Bronto Burt *Broom Hatter *Bug *Burning Leo *Cappy *Chilly *Chip *Como *Coner *Dekabu *Gabon *Gim *Glunk *Gordo *Grizzo *Kabu *Key Dee *Knuckle Joe *Mamanti *NESP *Noddy *Nruff *Parasol Waddle Dee *Plugg *Poppy Bros. Jr *Propeller *Puppet Waddle Dee *Rocky *Scarfy *Shotzo *Sir Kibble *Squishy *Two Face *Waddle Dee *Waddle Doo *Wester Mid-bosses *Bonkers *Bugzzy *Chef Kawasaki *Mr. Frosty *Vividria Bosses *Flamberge *Francisca *King Dedede *Meta Knight *Pon & Con *Twin Kracko *Whispy Woods *Unnamed Cloaked Figure *Unnamed Yellow Jambastion mage Copy Abilities The game will feature 28 standard Copy Abilities, as well as the ability to mix certain abilities together into Friend Abilities, similarly to how mixing abilities worked in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Kirby: Squeak Squad. Abilities in italics are new, abilities in bold can be permanently imbued with an element. Copy Abilities Elements Items *1UP *Food *Invincibility Candy *Key *Maxim Tomato *Pep Brew *Picture Piece *Star *Treasure Chest *Warp Star *3D Warp Star Levels *World of Miracles - Planet Popstar **Dream Land ***Honey Hill ***Fruity Forest ***Friendly Field **Reef Resort **Echo's Edge **Nature's Navel *Fortress of Shadows - Jambastion **Gatehouse Road **Eastern Wall **Longview Corridor Objects *Apple *Cannon amiibo Compatibility During Story Mode, the player can scan an amiibo. Scanning HAL Laboratory-related amiibo (Kirby series, their Smash Bros. counterparts, and Qbby from BoxBoy) will give two Point Stars, a Maxim tomato, and two picture pieces. Scanning any other amiibo will give two Point Stars, one food item, and one picture piece. Trivia *This game greatly resembles the first attempt at Kirby GCN, a cancelled game for the Nintendo GameCube. It resembles Kirby's Return to Dream Land as well, though this is because Kirby GCN was reworked into Kirby's Return to Dream Land. *Helpers can be mixed with abilities themselves, a first for the series. This was seen in the portion of the trailer with Whispy Woods. *Helpers wear the hat that corresponds to their ability, unlike Helpers in Kirby Super Star and its remake. *Helpers reflect the colors of the player playing them. Any helpers who are player 2 are yellow, helpers who are player 3 are blue, and helpers who are player 4 are green. This concept is reused from Kirby GCN. *This is Nago, Pitch, and ChuChu's first appearance in the flesh since their debut 21 years before Kirby Star Allies in Kirby's Dream Land 3. *King Dedede, when he transforms, greatly resembles his transformation in Kirby: Right Back at Ya! when he was possessed by the Demon Frog. *This is the first Kirby game to be localized into Chinese, in both Traditional and Simplified forms. *For unknown reasons, when the official Nintendo website lists Kirby Star Allies in a recommended games section, it states the release date of the game is June 30, 2018. This is incorrect, as the January 11 Nintendo Direct confirmed the actual release date to be March 16, 2018. *''Kirby Star Allies'' is the fourth Kirby game to have an E10+ ESRB rating. *''Kirby Star Allies is the first ''Kirby game to have a happy Kirby on the North American box art since Kirby and the Rainbow Curse. *''Kirby Star Allies'' is the first Kirby game to see release worldwide on the same day. *This is the third Kirby game to have Helpers; the other two are Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra (if counted). *The power of the new Artist ability, when paired with the hat, is reminiscent of the aspiring artist, Adeleine from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. *This is the third Kirby game to run at 30fps instead of the usual 60fps after Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse. **However, Kirby: Planet Robobot switches from 60fps to 30fps depending on the number of objects and effects onscreen. *This is the first Kirby game where Waddle Doo closes his eye, something only previously seen in Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and Smash Run from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. *On January 27, 2018, the My Nintendo rewards program released a Kirby Star Allies-themed calendar for the month of February. It was discovered to be a January calendar, as the month had 31 days instead of 28, and Valentine's Day was marked as the second Sunday of the month rather than the second Wednesday. This mistake was corrected shortly after.Nintendo Wire *When the official Japanese website of Kirby Star Allies launched on February 14, 2018, the URL initially misspelled the game's title as "Star Arise." This was corrected shortly afterwards, and the misspelled URL now redirects to the correct one. (The English words "Allies" and "Arise" have the same spelling in katakana. *''Kirby Star Allies'' is the first traditional platformer in the series to name individual stages. *A demo was released on March 1st, 2018 for Europe. It has 2 playable levels. *Como had his design changed in this game. In older Kirby games, he would attack by coming down a spider web. In this game, he is able to walk on two feet. Videos Artwork KSA Kirby Artwork.png|Kirby KSA Artist artwork.png|Artist Kirby KSA Spider Kirby artwork.png|Spider Kirby Staff Kirby.png|Staff Kirby Festival Kirby.png|Festival Kirby KSA Cleaning Kirby Artwork.png|Cleaning Kirby KSA Kirby Artwork 2.png|Kirby with a Friend Heart KSA Burning Leo and Flame sword kirby artwork.png|Burning Leo and Kirby KSA Kirby and Poppy Bros. Jr. artwork cropped.png|Poppy Bros. Jr. and Kirby KSA Cleaning Kirby and curling stone Artwork.png|Cleaning Kirby with Curling Stone KSA_Yo-yo_kirby.png|Yo-Yo Kirby with fire KSA_yo-yo_kirby_Artwork.png|Yo-yo Kirby Cook KSA.PNG|Cook Kirby KSA Helper Artwork.png|Friend Circle with Helpers KSA Character Artwork.png|Unnamed Festival enemy KSA Driblee Artwork.png|Driblee Vividria_Kirby_Star_Allies_Artwork.png|Vividria Gim_Kirby_Star_Allies_Artwork.png|Gim with a Water Yo-Yo Poppy Bros. Jr. enemy KSA.png|Poppy Bros. Jr. KSA_Poppy_Bros._Jr..png|Poppy Bros. Jr. with a Cleaning Bomb KSA_Blade_Knight.png|Blade Knight with an Ice Sword KSA_Bonkers_Artwork.png|Bonkers with a Plasma Hammer KSA_Parasol_Waddle_Dee.png|Parasol Waddle Dee Bio_Spark_Star_Allies.png|Bio Spark with a Fire Katana Burning Leo Star Allies Artwork.png|Burning Leo KSA Francisca artwork.png|Francisca KSA The Three generals Artwork.png|The three Jambastion mages KSA King Dedede artwork.png|King Dedede KSA Macho Dedede.png|King Dedede KSA Meta Knight artwork.png|Meta Knight KSA Plugg artwork.png|Plugg KSA Chilly artwork.png|Chilly KSA Maxim Tomato artwork.png|Maxim Tomato KSA Pep brew artwork.png|Pep Brew KSA Picture Piece artwork.png|Picture Piece KSA Mt. Dedede.png|King Dedede's Castle Logos KirbyforNintendoSwitchlogovariant.png| Logo KirbyStarAlliesLogoJP.png| Logo Boxart KSA Boxart.jpg| Boxart KSA BOX UK.png| Boxart KSA JP Box.jpg| Boxart Icon KSA Icon.jpg| Icon Gallery KSw Screenshot 1.png|Sword Kirby slashes a Bronto Burt. KSw Screenshot 2.png|Stone Kirby, as a Curling Stone, freezes Cappies. KSw Screenshot 3.png|Kirby converts an enemy Poppy Bros. Jr. into a Helper. KSw Screenshot 4.png|Kirby and Parasol Waddle Dee solve a puzzle. KSw Screenshot 5.png|Sword Kirby powers up his sword with Fire. KSw Screenshot 6.png|Bomb Kirby powers up his bomb with Water. KSw Screenshot 7.png|Kirby and his Helpers form a wheel. KSw Screenshot 8.png|Kirby and his Helpers shoot out of Cannons. KSw Screenshot 9.png|Kirby and his Helpers battle Mr. Frosty. KSw Screenshot 10.png|Kirby and his Helpers battle Whispy Woods. KSw Screenshot 11.png|Kirby travels across the level map. KSw Screenshot 12.png|Kirby and his Helpers clear a stage. KSA Puzzle Piece.jpg|A new collectible, the Picture Piece Buff De De De.png|Transformed King Dedede File:Spider Ability.jpeg|Kirby's Spider Copy Ability. File:Friend Abilities.jpeg|Friend Abilities introduction. File:Artist Ability.jpeg|Kirby's Artist Copy Ability. File:New Mechanic Friend Train.jpeg|The Friend Train. The new Copy Ability Stick KSA.jpeg|Kirby's Staff Copy Ability KSA Unknown Cloak Person.jpg|The unknown cloaked figure 00000965 11.jpg|The Dark Heart. Kirby Star Allies screenshot.png|Kirby and his Helpers battle Francisca. Scan_15.jpg|Famitsu scan Scan_16.jpg|Famitsu scan Scan_17.jpg|Famitsu scan Scan_18.jpg|Famitsu scan Scan-13.jpg|Famitsu scan Scan-14.jpg|Famitsu scan Scan-15.jpg|Famitsu scan Scan-16.jpg|Famitsu scan External Links Japanese website References it:Kirby Star Allies ja:星のカービィ スターアライズ zh:星之卡比 新星同盟 Category:2010s Games Category:Traditional platformers Category:Kirby Star Allies